Texas appeals court again pauses execution of Robert Roberson in shaken baby case

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas’ top criminal court on Thursday again paused the execution of Robert Roberson, just days before he was set to become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

This was the third execution date that Roberson’s lawyers have been able to stay since 2016, including one scheduled nearly a year ago due to an unprecedented intervention from a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers who believe he is innocent.

The latest execution stay was granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Roberson had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Oct. 16 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis.

Since his first execution date more than nine years ago, Roberson’s lawyers have filed multiple petitions with state and federal appeals courts, as well as with the U.S. Supreme Court, to stop his execution. They have also asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene, as part of their efforts to secure Roberson a new trial.

Will ‘junk science’ law secure Roberson a new trial?

“He is actually innocent,” Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, told reporters after the court ruling. “I would like to prove that and get him home one day.”

Roberson’s attorneys have argued his then-undiagnosed autism helped convict him as authorities and medical personnel felt he didn’t act like a concerned parent because his flat affect was seen as a sign of guilt. He was diagnosed with autism in 2018.

The court granted the stay based on Texas’ 2013 junk science law, which allows a person convicted of a crime to seek relief if the evidence used against them is no longer credible. It cited its October 2024 ruling that overturned the conviction of another man, Andrew Roark, in another shaken baby case in Dallas. Roberson’s lawyers argue that the two cases are indistinguishable.

The appeals court sent Roberson’s case back to his trial court in East Texas for review to determine if he should get a new trial.

Matthew Bowman, Nikki’s half-brother, said he and his family are disappointed by Thursday’s ruling, and that they think Roberson should be executed. Bowman told The Associated Press he believes the evidence shows Roberson caused Nikki’s injuries by repeatedly hitting her.

“In my opinion, he’s the only one that could have done it that night. So we’re hoping that the execution comes back,” he said.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office, which is seeking Roberson’s execution, has not responded to an email requesting comment.

Appeals court focuses on similar shaken baby syndrome case

Roberson’s lawyers had requested the stay based new legal and scientific developments and expert analyses that indicate Nikki’s death was caused by illness and accident, not abuse. They included a joint statement from 10 independent pathologists who said the medical examiner’s autopsy report, which concluded Nikki died from blunt force head injuries, was “not reliable.”

Roberson’s attorneys also alleged judicial misconduct, saying the judge who oversaw his trial hadn’t disclosed he previously authorized the circumvention of Roberson’s parental rights and allowed Nikki’s grandparents to remove her from life support.

The appeals court denied both those claims and instead said it was granting the stay to review issues raised by Roark’s case on its “own initiative.”

In granting Roark a new trial, the appeals court found that the science had changed to undermine the prosecution’s theory of a case involving shaken baby syndrome, and that Roark likely would not have been convicted under the “evolved scientific evidence.” The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office subsequently dropped the charges against Roark.

“I know that Roark changed the legal landscape in Texas and should mean relief for Robert,” Sween said.

Roberson has long proclaimed his innocence, telling The Associated Press in an interview last week from death row in Livingston, Texas, that he never abused his daughter.

“I never shook her or hit her,” he said.

The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is hurt through shaking or some other violent impact, like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.

Some authorities believe Nikki was a victim of child abuse

Prosecutors at Roberson’s 2003 trial, as well as the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have argued that Roberson hit Nikki and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma. They said she was a victim of child abuse and died from injuries related to shaken baby syndrome.

In a Sept. 26 op-ed in The Dallas Morning News, three pediatricians, including two with the Yale School of Medicine, said they reviewed the case and “are convinced that Nikki was a victim of child abuse.”

Shaken baby syndrome has come under scrutiny in recent years; some lawyers and medical experts say the diagnosis has wrongly sent people to prison. Prosecutors and medical societies say it remains valid.

Roberson’s supporters include liberal and ultraconservative lawmakers, Texas GOP megadonor and conservative activist Doug Deason, bestselling author John Grisham, and Brian Wharton, the former police detective who helped put together the case against him.

GOP state Rep. Brian Harrison, one of the more conservative lawmakers in the Texas Legislature, praised the stay.

“For over two decades, Mr. Robert Roberson has never, not once, been afforded due process and he has never had a fair trial,” Harrison told reporters on Thursday.

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